USD 464 board member Mildred McMillon received a plaque recognizing her many years with the school district at Monday’s regular school board meeting.

The plaque, which was shaped like the state of Kansas, was fitting because of all the miles she’s traveled across the state serving on the local and state boards, she said.

She’s served a total of 27 1/2 years on the boards, and is in her final month of serving her second stint on the Tonganoxie board. McMillon opted not to run for re-election this past November. Gene Becker won election against two other candidates for McMillon’s at-large position and will join the board next month.

She said she put in a lot of “seat time” on the boards sitting at numerous meetings.

“I feel like I started on a mission,” McMillon said of moving from Kansas City, Kan., to rural Tonganoxie.

She and her husband, an airline pilot, bought a farm near Interstate-70 south of Tonganoxie several years ago.

When she originally was asked to run for school board, she said she didn’t think she was qualified, as she wasn’t a teacher.

“You pay taxes, don’t you?” the person told her, McMillon recalled.

She left a board post early at one point when her husband became ill. He died two years later, McMillon said.

McMillon talked about funding being an issue today and at other points during her service and that, during a meeting in Washington, D.C., that a superintendent told her “remember that the albatross around our neck is funding.”

She also mentioned a piece of advice a former superintendent gave her — with every decision, the students’ best interests are the most important parts of the decisions.

The board then took a 10-minute break in the meeting to have cake and refreshments in McMillon’s honor.

In other business, the board,

• Approved, 7-0, property casualty insurance for the 2011-12 school year. The premium, at $145,333, is $10,565 less than the previous year. Quality claim experience and improved worker’s compensation issues were reasons for lower premiums, according to Superintendent Kyle Hayden.

• Approved, 7-0, a bid of $46,432.90 with Harbour Brothers for asphalt work for work on the Tonganoxie Middle School driveway. It’s an extension to a project the company also did this past year for replacement of asphalt at the school, as well as work at the high school and elementary school The only other bid, from McConnell and Associates, actually was a lower bid at $43,927, but did not meet the bid specifications of a breakdown by school site.

Harbour Brothers’ bid was: $32,602.50 for the middle school, $12,000 for the high school and $1,830.40 at the elementary.

The board voted not to renew Lott’s contract at the May board meeting because some license requirements had not yet been met, though Lott had an appeal period. During that period, it was determined Lott successfully obtained full licensure. In addition, no adjustments to hourly wages or annual salaries from the current year were made for the upcoming year for faculty and staff.